Claire Burdett: Content Portfolio

Google built it and people are coming, well coming to create profiles anyway. Google+ still feels pretty empty and only full of those who particularly like the sound of their own voices, but so far so good. The stats are reassuring so far and ‘everyone’ is talking about it. But will the ‘the people’ come, […]

Food for free is a passion of mine – I never walk the dog without a bag or two in my pocket in which to stash bounty. Whether it’s berries to make into jam, mushrooms for breakfast or nettle tips for soup, it all finds its way home. It’s a hobby with a long legacy […]

Festivals in Seville set the bar for Spanish festivals generally – they are intense and unforgettable. Just make sure you book your travel and hotel or accommodation well in advance, as they get really really packed. Semana Santa Important throughout Spain, Semana Santa, or Holy Week (Palm Sunday – Good Friday), is celebrated in intensely […]

What comes to mind when you think of Japan? Probably a diverse mix of images: traditional Geishas, cherry blossom and tea ceremonies alongside humanoid robots, Anime and Manga, ultra-trendy urbanites, high-speed trains and high-tech consumerism, obviously. No? Just the Tsunami? Time to look more closely. History is an interesting phenomena, especially when you use it […]

As technological advances push the boundaries of what is possible, our ability to enjoy the winter cold wherever we are increases apace. We now have the largest igloos ever known, carved from the ice and erected anew every year, machines that blast out snow where there isn’t any so we can ski whenever we want, […]

City Breaks

Festivals in Seville set the bar for Spanish festivals generally – they are intense and unforgettable. Just make sure you book your travel and hotel or accommodation well in advance, as they get really really packed. Semana Santa Important throughout

There’s something timeless and yet thoroughly cosmopolitan about Bath. Perhaps it’s the mix of Roman remains flanked by the Medieval Abbey and surrounded on all sides by stately Georgian architecture. Perhaps it is its situation, nestled in a basin of

Travel with Teens

There are 1001 things to do in Las Vegas, and that’s just before lunch. Not only is there a stunning array inside the Mega Resorts, but there’s all the glitz of the four-mile, neon-drenched Strip itself, as well as the

Aqaba is Jordan’s only seaside town, perched on their tiny foothold of coastline at the north of the Red Sea, and like so many places in Jordan, it is an ancient place now bought up to date in true Jordanian

“The crags are capped in nests of domes, less hotly red than the body of the body of the hill. They gave the finishing semblance of Byzantine architecture to this irresistible place, this processional way greater than imagination…vast, echoing and

As technological advances push the boundaries of what is possible, our ability to enjoy the winter cold wherever we are increases apace. We now have the largest igloos ever known, carved from the ice and erected anew every year, machines

Adventure Breaks

I blame Blue Peter myself. Somewhere back in the eons of time before the days of colour television and when John Noakes, Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves were still young, there was a dog called Petra. The year I was

Hot, intense and bitter sweet, Seville is famous for passion, for spectacle and theatre, and for song. It’s the greatest city of the Spanish south, the home of such legendary characters as Carmen, Don Juan, Figaro and Columbus, and the

We saw Petra for the first time at night. Inky blueblack sky above, punctuated by a mesh of stars. Deep black in front, behind and around us, candles in paper bags lighting the path beside our feet but little else

As technological advances push the boundaries of what is possible, our ability to enjoy the winter cold wherever we are increases apace. We now have the largest igloos ever known, carved from the ice and erected anew every year, machines

These are exciting times in the aviation industry. From larger capacity airliners to increasingly sophisticated interior fixtures and fittings and bespoke flights, aviation is finally growing into its potential, the potential that has been there since the Wright brothers first

Suddenly it seems that the humble two-wheeled iron horse has become hot news, with the range of options aimed at filling every niche in the market increasing year on year. In fact, from funky folding options to robust mountain bikes

Occasionally something comes along that fills a niche so neatly that you can’t ever imagine how you did without out it. For skiers and outdoors enthusiasts, that something is Spyder wear, first launched over 30 years ago and still breaking

The history of trains is beloved of every young trainspotter and uber-geek, and it does make fantastic reading. From the revolutionary Rocket through to the high speed journeys of the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman, Japan’s sleek electric Bullet and

The cute white rabbit used so frequently as a symbol of Easter has its roots in the pagan fertility festivals celebrated at the time of the Spring equinox. The rabbit was actually a hare, an animal that was traditonally seen

For most Brits, think summer and the image of sitting outside your favourite pub with a glass of something thirst quenching in your hand will immediately flash into your head. Ahh the pub… it’s such an institution it’s almost a

For those with a passion, the annual arrival of Seville oranges in Britain is an eagerly-awaited arrival akin to the first Beaujolais in other circles. They usually make a brief appearance just after New Year and fly off the shelves

In Britain we are now lucky to have an ever-increasing range of beer to choose from, from the very light, such as the Golden Ales (Exmoor Gold) through Old Ales, which are usually matured in bottles (such as Theakeston’s Old

Chocolate’s scientific name Theobroma cacao literally translates as ‘food of the Gods’, and few of us would disagree, yet it hasn’t always enjoyed mass popularity and modern production has hardly been what you might call angelic. So just what is